i announced that we were going to begin drawing down troops in afghanistan and pivot to a transition process where afghans are taking more responsibility for their defense. but we have to do all of this in a fairly gradual way. we can't simply lop off 25 percent off the defense budget overnight. we have to think about all the obligations we have to our current troops who are in the field, and making sure they're properly equipped and safe. we've got to make sure that we are meeting our commitments for those veterans who are coming home. we've got to make sure that -- in some cases, we've got outdated equipment that needs to be replaced. and so i'm committed to reducing the defense budget, but as commander-in-chief, one of the things that we have to do is make sure that we do it in a thoughtful way that's guided by our security and our strategic needs. and i think we can accomplish that. and the nice thing about the defense budget is it's so big, it's so huge, that a 1 percent reduction is the equivalent of the education budget. not -- i'm exaggerating, but it's so big that you can ma